[gennickhif]

"Whenever Wisdom is lacking, there is ignorance, and in the darkness of ignorance it's very easy for the various kinds of craving, views and conceits to overwhelm the mind.
Meditation is usually considered, rather narrowly, to be the application of certain techniques to still or to investigate the mind. Consequently, there is a lack of understanding of the Path in it's wholeness and in the integrity of the Eightfold Path, or, as we have summarized, it's threefold training for body, speech and mind;- Sila, Samadhi, and Panna.In particular there is often a lack of awareness of the relationship between the external practice of restraint and the renunciation of that which is unwholesome, and the inner practice of concentration and reflection.

In the West, those spiritual groups attaching little importance in the religious life to the practice of Sila( attention to our actions and speech,) are often more popular than those which emphasise it's role because we all have a natural tendency to want our cake and eat it. To begin with, keeping the precepts entails going against the stream, going against the old habits, and actually doing things which are difficult to do, which we don't really like to do, and which thereby lead to tension and stress. But that stress is mitigated and feels much less pressing and significant when we have a real understanding of the way the mind works. We see that the only way to free the mind of it's addictions is to get out of the habitually negative and self-orientated ways of acting and relating to the world.


Initially, how we act and speak, reflect the conditioning imposed by the state of the world we live in, be it the harmony, peace, confusion, or violence. Taking on the Precepts as training rules or standards of morality, means that one recollects and returns to these as the basis for one's judgements and therefore, behaviour. They cleanse the mind and protect it from guilt, anxiety, fear and suspicion.